Take A Pew With Me explores the wonders of religious buildings seen through the eyes of young Catholic woman as she discovers the hidden treasures of the many Cathedrals, Churches, Abbeys and Shrines she visits.

Sunday, 11 April 2010

My Pilgrimage to the Seven Churches - Rome

On a recent holiday backpacking through Italy I had the chance to visit Rome for the first time, where I took this fantastic opportunity to complete the Seven Church Pilgrimage.

A book on the pilgrimage to the seven churches published in 1694 describes it as ‘a pilgrimage peradventure the most celebrated after Calvary and the Sepulchre of Christ’, and is an old medieval tradition that was revived and promoted by St Philip Neri in the sixteenth century. St Philip and his companions would set out to visit the four major basilicas of Rome, as well as the three more significant minor basilicas. They would pack picnic lunches, sing hymns, and pray litanies along the way, stopping occasionally to rest, and pausing at each of the seven basilicas for catechesis and prayer. They would start at St Peter’s walking south to St Paul’s Outside the walls beyond the city outskirts, and then across to the tomb of St Sebastian on the Appian way, back into the city to St john Lateran, up a short way to the Holy Cross of Jerusalem, heading out again to St Lawrence Outside the Walls, before finally ending in the city at St Mary’s Major.

Over the next several posts I will be sharing my journey with clips and relfections of my experience.

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The Society of St Justin

Throughout Britian and across Europe there are many buildings in which for centuries Holy Mass was offered and the other sacraments were celebrated; places hallowed by the prayers of countless of Catholic priests, monks and lay faithful. In visiting these places, members of the Society of St Justin recall the Catholic history and re-hallow the buildings and locations with Catholic prayer for those who worshipped there in times past, offering acts of reparation for past neglect and venerating ancient shrines and the relics of the saints.

The Church Conservation Trust cares for over 340 of England's finest historic churches which are no longer required for regular parish worship. Their collection ranges from the virtually untouched medieval churches in idyllic rural settings, to ornately impressive Victorian churches in busy town centres.

The Open Churches Trust has helped over 300 places of worship to open their doors, including Anglican, Roman Catholic, Unitarian, Baptist and Jewish. The website has entries for churches listed by county.

Through this website you can view their guide to members of the association. These include Cathedrals, Churches, Abbeys and Shrines in the UK and Ireland. Members' pages in the guide give an outline of basic visitor information consisting of times of opening, how to get there, any charges involved, significant historical and architectural features and times of worship.